Aboriginal involvement in caring-for-country: an economic case study in primary preventative health.

OBJECTIVE: Firstly, to demonstrate the involvement of Aboriginal people in caring-for-country as a case study of how appropriately targeted non-medical primary preventative health strategies can be a cost-effective approach to addressing chronic disease among Indigenous people. Secondly, to demonstrate the use of an analogous approach in addressing the global chronic disease pandemic.
METHOD: A review of prior biomedical and economic research based on the involvement of Aboriginal people in caring-for-country is used to: (a) exemplifying the cost effectiveness of a non-medical preventative health intervention; and (b) the process by which such an approach might be applied across a broader context.
RESULTS: The presented results demonstrate one non-medical primary preventative health approach to addressing the health burden affecting Indigenous peoples.
CONCLUSIONS: The suggested steps in optimising the cost effectiveness of such an approach demonstrate how it could be applied in addressing the global chronic disease pandemic. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2015.